Queen of the Bramble Court
by Araceil
Summary: Iris Potter loved Tennis. She loved it with a ferocious passion. Enough of a passion for her to turn a so called tennis team of nothing but fangirls into something worthy of attending the Japanese Nationals. It was time for Seigaku's female tennis team to take centre court!
1. Chapter 1

**Iris Potter loved Tennis. She loved it with a ferocious passion. Enough of a passion for her to turn a so called tennis team of nothing but fangirls into something worthy of attending the Japanese Nationals. It was time for Seigaku's female tennis team to take centre court!**

_**000**_

Five years ago, tennis saved her life.

It was such an incongruous thing to happen. But... like an avalanche, it was triggered by the smallest of things. Invisible to the naked eye, until the roar of realisation set something impossible to stop in motion. That was what tennis had done for her. Something so small, and invisible... it changed her life.

Five years ago. She was seven. Just entering into Year Four at Little Whinging's King James Junior School. It was a local public junior school, but it had a good reputation for it's after school clubs, boasting a large number of them. It may have been a public school, but it was a well funded one thanks to a few of the charitable donations by various alumni.

Year Four was the year when tennis was on the P.E. Roster.

In English Junior Schools, once a class moved up a year-group, they also changed classrooms. Moving from Year Three to Year Four, meant they moved a corridor down and towards the school field. They left Miss June behind in Year Three and came into Mrs Hedge's class, room 22 at the end of the corridor, next to the cloak-room. Mrs Hedge was a nice older woman with curly brown hair and kindly grey eyes. She wore long skirts and sweaters with kittens knitted into them. Her black-board would have a different flower sketched on it every morning and in the three weeks since the start of term, they could already tell what mood she was in based on the flower on the board. No one quite realised that she was slowly, and subtly, teaching them the Victorian Flower Language. But then, they were only seven. She wasn't expecting geniuses.

For the first three months, their class P.E. Lessons were focused on Rounders. A much more toned down form of baseball for children. Five bases, one pitcher, one batter, and one guard. They used the large paddle bats and a tennis ball for lessons because their hand-eye coordination wasn't yet good enough for Mrs Hedge to trust them with regular thin bats and cricket balls – which were hard and painful. In Rounders, the pitcher threw the ball and the batter had to hit it. If one of the field members caught it before it hit the ground, that was an automatic Out. Once the batter hit the ball, they then hard to run around each of the five bases. They had to each a base before someone threw the ball back to the pitcher. They would only get a full Rounder Point if they made it through ALL the Bases before the ball returned to the pitcher. It was a clever way of teaching children fractions as well as giving them some exercise and teaching them about teamwork.

It was just a shame that Dudley Dursley and his friends, Piers Polkis, and Malcome Baddock were also part of the class and by far the most disruptive influences that Mrs Hedge had the misfortune of dealing with.

When Spring term rolled around, Mrs Hedge announced that they would be getting a new Teaching Assistant specifically to help them with their new P.E. Lessons. A former national tennis player by the name of Adam Radcliff, he would be helping her during the next three months of tennis lessons and taking over as coach for the school's Tennis Club.

In another life, Adam hadn't injured himself during his last tournament and thus never had to retire early. He would have never opted to take a teaching degree and show youngsters how much fun tennis could be, he would have been too busy playing it himself.

But in this life. In this life, a friend of his waxed a little too poetically about how much fun he had teaching children music in an effort to try and cheer him up after his injury that Adam decided to give it a try. If he couldn't play tennis, then god-damnit he was going to make sure other people could, and as long as they loved the sport just as much as him, he didn't think he could ever be sad! So he returned to his old alma mater after gaining a teaching and sports coaching qualification, he passed all of his CBR checks, took all the teacher training courses in first aid, child psychology, the Safe Guarding briefs, the Fire Martial Training, _everything_. He was determined to do this. And the headmistress threw her hands up and laughed, saying that if he was that determined she would just have to let him. Least she come in one day to find him camped out in front of her office like he had done as a student, demanding better tennis equipment for the P.E. Department.

One incident changed everything for Iris.

Adam Radcliff became their P.E. Teacher.

The invisible thing that started the avalanche of change in her life was a friendly seeming man in a sports jacket and shorts in the middle of the cold January air as they shivered in the field at the back of the school.

"I know it's cold guys, but get to running! Three laps around the field as a warm-up, then come back and choose your rackets!" he called cheerfully, watching as the children in their leggings, shorts, and polo-necks took to grumbling and complaining as they began their laps.

"I see you there Dudley, keep running! No cutting corners!" he shouted across the field, laughing at the wail of dismay from the tubby little boy. He was beginning to understand what Chris meant when he said teaching children was fun. And why his coach tortured him so badly during his training. It was funny to hear that wail of frustration and indignation. Three laps wasn't too bad, not at their age. But still, a lot of them were flagging and falling behind to a walk, gasping for breath. Had he pushed them too hard? They were what, seven? He had been doing ten laps around the tennis courts at their age.

Still, there were a few not falling behind. Piers Polkis looked to be quite good, he hadn't decided to go sprinting off and was actually moving at an easy jog that looked like he could hold it for a long time. There was a short haired girl far out in front, sprinting ahead of the pack. Interesting. She wasn't pausing or slowing, or even breathing hard as she easily outstripped her classmates and even began to overlap them on the third lap around the field. While her speed seemed to suggest sprinting, there was a definite rhythm to her movements that suggested she just ran so fast that it seemed like she was sprinting. That was a lot of stamina for such a little lady.

That was when the first clump of snow broke free from the avalanche of change.

Adam Radcliff saw the exact moment that the little girl passed Dudley Dursley – and the backhanded punch the boy swung into her stomach.

The blow drove all the air out of the girl's lungs and even caused her to vomit as she dropped to the ground, cradling her no doubt bruised stomach.

"DUDLEY DURSLEY!" Adam thundered, causing the whole class to recoil and the boy in question to jump as if he had been electrocuted mid laugh as he stood over Iris Potter.

It would be later in the staff room when he brought it up with Mrs Hedge that he learned little Iris was in fact Dudley's cousin, and currently living with him and his parents. Apparently the girl's parents had met an unpleasant end with a drink driving incident. The distressing thing, Miss June of their Year Three class admitted, was the Dursleys themselves. Petunia and Vernon refused to reign their young son in. It was a classic 'kill them with kindness' situation. Dudley Dursley was well on his way to becoming a full-out sociopath with the way they were raising him to believe he was above the rules, above concerns about other people, and above the punishment system. The young blonde teacher could only confess her relief at never having to deal with Dudley ever again now that he was out of her class. Apparently, unless you were male, had visible muscle, and shouted like a drill-sergeant, the boy would neither give you the time of day, nor the respect you were due.

It was a good thing that Adam had all of those things.

The bad thing was that the next day, Iris Potter was limping a little as she ran her laps.

And an unpleasant feeling took root in Adam's gut. Still. She was soldiering on with her work out. And she had looked excited about taking part in actual tennis today, so he didn't pull her immediately into the nurse's office like he had last time. He didn't have the heart.

Adam would never forget that day.

She was a _natural_.

He immediately tried to recruit her for the tennis club. That kind of talent in a first time player was almost unheard of, and almost as though she were a gift from the Tennis Gods themselves! With some training, a little bit of polish, she could be a national player! Heck, forget national, she might even make it into the Olympics if she trained hard enough!Her ability to track the ball was incredible, her hand to eye coordination was definitely at tournament level. Unfortunately, without knowing the rules, or how to play properly, all that little Iris was culminated in was a seven year old with some impressive reflexes.

She wasn't a tennis player yet, but he was determined to change that!

A week later, he was ripping his hair out with anger, frustration and more than a little concern.

Every attempt he made at trying to convince the Dursley family to let her stay after school and join the club had been rebuffed with, at times, some very weak and suspicious arguments. Not to mention the strange appearances of notes that tried to excuse her from P.E. Class the few times that Dudley presented the paper to him – because apparently Iris was hiding them in her shoes so she wouldn't have to hand them over. That wasn't his only problem, it seemed as though Dudley was getting jealous of the attention he paid Iris during lessons and was getting increasingly violent toward her, ignoring him when he shouted at the boy. Even Mrs Hedge had ranted about how the boy was becoming absolutely impossible in classes, refusing to accept his punishments and being purposefully disruptive.

Twice now the headmistress had called Petunia Dursley in about her son's volatile behaviour.

And every time... Adam saw Iris limping the morning after.

He raised the alarm. The staff members had been suspicious for a while now, but none of them had the same medical experience as Adam. None of them knew the human body like he did. And it was a well known fact that Social Services would not move on suspicions alone. There needed to be proof. And Adam provided it with papers detailing every incident where Dudley Dursley lashed out at his cousin, every bruise he and his little gang was accounted for, and then he listed every bruise and sprain and injury that did _not_ come from them. He drew out parallels of behaviour between the children, the days of the week, and Mrs Dursley's appearances in the office.

It culminated in the Dursley family being approached by Social Services.

And then Vernon Dursley accusing him of being a paedophile.

As the accusation was made during the official interrogation, Adam was put on paid suspension – just so they could investigate carefully. Petunia Dursley had gone running to the media and now the whole situation was an utter circus around poor Iris with her parents being foul mouthed at every turn, the child in question being painted as a little delinquent or an innocent being led astray, and the Dursley family as slandered martyrs standing against an oppressive nanny-state school board.

Headmistress Winters did _not_ take that lying down.

She anonymously sent Iris and Dudley's school files to the newspaper, along with a copy of the original evidence Adam had put forward. And the papers exploded once again. It was then that a reporter found an actual _goldmine_ of information on the Late Mr and Mrs Potter. One Arabella Figg, and elderly lady who knew them when they were alive, who tried to keep an eye on young Iris as a favour. Finding out that the young couple actually comprised of an up and coming, fresh out of training, Police Officer and his medical student wife being forced to go into hiding to escape a serial killer had positively _rocked_ the neighbourhood who had been under the impression they were drop-out drug dealers who died in a car-crash. To hear that Lily Potter's dead body had to be lifted off her young daughter where she had died shielding her from a murderer had... changed everything in Little Whinging.

The Dursley family were in the shit.

Then the Police got involved with Social Services. Forensics.

The cupboard under the stairs. The basement. The shed in the back garden.

A horrific history of neglect, mental, emotional, and physical abuse was laid out in front of the United Kingdom as thousands of voices rose up in support and defence of one little girl, her P.E. Teacher leading the charge. The only cruelty that Iris had _not_been subjected to was sexual abuse – the only reason being that neither Dursley seemed to want to get 'Freak' on them.

Five years ago, tennis saved Iris Lily Potter's life by bringing her into Adam Radcliff's.

Five years ago, she asked if he would foster her, and the courts, with advice from the Foster system and her councillor, agreed to give him fully custody of the little girl.

Four years ago, she won her first tournament, the under tens' Match Point League Surrey division.

Four years ago, she became the South-West's under tens tennis champion.

Three years ago, she caught sight of a boy being bullied on the tennis courts. She blitzed the bullies, running them off the courts, and told him that his form was good, and he had a lot of potential. He just needed to improve his insight and accuracy – and have some confidence already! If he acted like a wilting wall flower of course people were going to pick on him, man the hell up and show them who was in charge!

Three years ago, she became England's undisputed Junior Tennis champion.

Two years ago, she defended that title, and kept it.

One year ago, she obliterated her competition, and again, kept it.

Three months ago, she won again. And told Adam that she hated England and wanted to move away.

Two months ago, arrangements began to have them leave the UK and head to Japan, a country that Iris herself chose.

One month ago, they started packing.

And yesterday... the plane landed in Narita Airport, Tokyo.

_**000**_

"Well, this is nice," Adam observed, looking around their little apartment as he unlocked the front door and opened it wide, moving to the side a little to let his curious twelve-year-old sidekick to step in and explore. Their plane had landed yesterday and the two of them had been formed into a motel for the night as they got in too late to collect their keys from the landlady, Kiyomi-san.

"I knew they'd be small, but wow, this is tiny," Iris observed, sounding mildly impressed of all things as she set her backpack down on the floor and moved further in.

"Well, yeah, Japan's all about the space saving and minimalism thing. Makes me wonder how we're going to fit all our stuff in here. Besides, I couldn't afford anywhere bigger," he admitted without the least bit of shame, he knew that Iris didn't really care how big the place was, she was just happy about being out of that damn cupboard. "Don't forget to take your shoes off," he added belatedly and had to step back a bit as her trainers came flying out of the kitchen.

"Toilet and shower are separate. No tub though," the girl called through from the otherside of the kitchen as Adam toed off his trainers and stepped into the living room. There were two sliding doors on the right hand side, one lead into his room, the other into Iris's. He had made a specific point of requesting that as the girl was not his daughter, no matter how much he may have thought of her that way, and she needed her own space. It meant the rent was a little more expensive than he would have liked, but all that boiled down to was they couldn't treat themselves all that much with take-aways and cinema visits.

"Bedrooms are nice too," he noted loudly.

"Rooms? As in, plural? I thought the Japanese slept in the one room if they were a family?" Iris asked, appearing behind him to peer into his bedroom from underarm. It was little more than a space big enough for a desk against the far wall, a book case above it, and a wall with a lot of cupboards. In all, there was barely enough floor space for a futon. She pulled away to check her room, which was exactly the same.

"Yeah, they do. But, you're a growing girl, y'know. I thought you might be uncomfortable sharing with me," Adam explained as he followed after, peeking in over her head. Yup, identical, just with the cupboards on the other wall. There was also some mild wear and tear on the desk. Not enough to warrant a new one though, thankfully.

"And I bet it cost extra, huh?" she asked scoldingly, looking up at him with that oh so familiar frown on her face.

He laughed and ruffled her hair, "I can't afford a house, but a two-bed flat isn't out of my price range. It just means we'll have to have more home-cooked meals than before. Which I was planning on anyway. Japan puts a lot more emphasis on healthy eating so rice, veggies, chicken, that sort of thing is going to be a lot cheaper than back in England. These up coming years are pretty important in terms of diet and training what with puberty setting in," he added with a smirk as Iris flushed and crossed her arms over her burgeoning chest.

"So... more training?" she asked sceptically.

Adam shook his head, "_Different_ training," he corrected. "Now, c'mon, let's get our carry on stuff settled. The moving company should be here this afternoon with the rest of our things," he told her before turning and heading to the kitchen where they had left their bags.

Over the last five years, Adam Radcliff had not changed much since his stint on the professional circuits. 6'2" with broad shoulders, he was tanned from spending so much time outside, his light brown hair streaked with sun-bleached highlights, it was cut short, cropped about an inch and a half from his skull so he had enough to play with if Iris decided to give him a mohawk or spikes because it was funny. Light brown eyes in a fairly friendly face, a little wide with prominent cheek-bones and a mildly squared off jaw. He tended to meander around in a pair of baggy shorts and various T-shirts, making it easy to see that the muscle he built up during his stint as a professional had not faded at all. Despite his injuries, Adam still kept in shape. He had to if he wanted to keep up with his young charge.

Iris too had changed from the scrawny little waif child she had once been and grown into what promised to be a very pretty young woman as she got older. She was still tiny, and it didn't look like that was going to change for her any time soon. About 4'7" in height, she was still very delicate looking due to her inability to put any significant weight on. Her skin was still pale but that was due to the fact she tended to burn instead of tan, so she spent a lot of time in long-sleeves and sun hats with factor 50 sunscreen. Iris hated looking like a lobster, and sunburn was painful. She had very elfin features, and large almond shaped chocolate brown eyes framed with unusually long eyelashes. Her thick fiery red hair used to be kept shorn boyishly short by her Aunt had grown out and now hung just past her shoulders in a horse-tail. Adam tried to get her into pretty dresses and tops whenever he could, but her old hang-ups from the Dursleys were still pretty strong and more often than not she would be wearing one of his old T-shirts and a pair of the bike-shorts he got for her to wear under those pretty dresses, as she refused point blank to wear anything that could fly up and give all and sundry an eyeful. He had lost more pairs of socks than he cared to think about to his daughter.

The pair of them quietly went about removing things from their hand-luggage in the silence of their new home, a silence that was broken when Iris turned her iPod on and set the volume up high. Her headphones were good enough to work as speakers if you didn't mind the sound being a touch tinny. Instrumental music filled the flat as the pair of them put the books away, set jackets and sweaters in the right places, Adam put his kindle on the table, Iris found a place for her mint-green teddybear – Sage.

"Adam? I'm gunna run to the corner shop, get some tea and a bit of lunch. May I have some money?" Iris asked, poking her head around the door.

"Sure, get me some salmon onigiri while you're there? I've always wanted to try it. You know where my wallet is," he told her as he busily plugged in his kindle charger. The girl made a sound of agreement and made her way to the kitchen to grab his wallet from the counter, slipping her trainers on, she left their little flat.

They were in a nice place, a suburb on the good side of town, they were fairly close to a train-station and it didn't take longer than five minutes to jog down the road. She got a few glances for being so obviously foreign, and for having such vivid coloured hair, but she'd gotten used to looks a long time ago. Adam had, despite advisement from the court, kept his job at her old school, so she still lived in Little Whinging while growing up. She got used to the attention that the people heaped onto her, she learned a lot about her parents from Mrs Figg who seemed a lot more friendly now that she didn't have to worry about staying in Petunia's good books. Dudley had been moved off to go and live with his Aunt Marge who bred Bulldogs in the country – she wished him luck with that. But eventually the stares changed from '_the poor abused orphan girl_', to '_the tennis prodigy from the news_'. It was such a strange turn around to suddenly have people who looked down their noses at her, her whole life, suddenly become her biggest supporters.

In their last year of Junior School at King James, ten-year-old Piers Polkis, whom had become much more tolerable without Dudley providing a bad example, approached her, blushing and stuttering, asking if she wanted to go with him to the cinema. She had to refuse because she had training, there was a tournament the second week of summer holidays and she wanted to be on top form for it. He had understood and wished her luck. It was almost surreal to see him in the stands during her final match cheering enthusiastically.

She shook away thoughts of England and turned her attention to the road in front of her, darting across during a lull in the traffic and entering into the corner shop. The boy behind the counter looked up, frowned, and then looked back down at the issue of Shounen Jump he was reading. She brushed his behaviour off, concentrating on finding what she wanted. She by-passed a guy in traditional garb who was busily picking out Adult Magazines, pausing only briefly to pick up one of the weekly Shounen Jump issues and a pair of blank notebooks. Two bottles of water, a bottle of grape ponta, a bottle of melon cream soda, two packs of salmon onigiri and some red bean paste pancake things later, she was stood in front of the cashier setting them all down.

"_May I also have a packet of the aspirin there?_" she asked in Japanese. She had studied the language for a year, really knuckling down in between her training. She wasn't perfect, she had a very thick accent and stumbled over some of the words that her mouth and tongue couldn't quite work fast enough to wrap around, but she was good enough to have the Cashier blink and then grin at her.

"_Of course._" He quickly collected the requested box and began to total everything up.

Iris flipped through the currency in Adam's wallet to get the right amount. Luckily they'd had the fore-thought to visit a currency exchange in the airport so there was no problems. Handing the money over, an idea struck her, "_Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but my Dad and I just moved into the area, do you know of any tennis courts, or sports clubs that might have them, in the near-by area?_" she asked as she accepted the paper bag he had kindly packed for her.

"_You play Tennis?_" the cashier asked in a little surprise.

Iris nodded, "_Yup. My Dad coaches me,_" she admitted, stepping aside a little to let the man in his traditional clothing have access to the cashier.

He hummed thoughtfully as he served the older man, "_Well, there's the street courts. That's about a half an hour walk from here up on Hinagiku Street. There's Gakino Gizaka too. They're actually holding a tournament in three weeks, they've got quite a few tennis courts,_" he explained as he collected some cigarettes for the older man.

Abruptly, the man in traditional clothes laughed at her, "_So you're a Tennis player too?_" he asked mirthfully, looking down at Iris who twitched a little and eyed him warily.

"_Yes,_" she allowed.

"_My son plays too. He's been whining about not having someone to play against since we got here. Maybe you two could play against one another? He keeps bugging me while I'm reading, it's a pain,_" he complained boisterously while the cashier looked a little disapproving of the interruption.

Iris wavered, "_Um, I'd... have to ask my Dad first,_" she said as politely as possible.

The man nodded, "_You do that,_" he told her before rummaging in his wallet and flicking a business card toward her. "_Names Echizen Nanjiro, you've got my number and address on there. Give me a ring if you're interested._" And with that, he collected his purchases and sauntered out of the shop, leaving the disapproving cashier and somewhat overwhelmed twelve year old girl behind.

"_Want me to chuck that for you?_" the cashier asked kindly.

Iris jolted and looked up at him, "_Erm... sure. Thank you._"

"_No problem. I've got a kid sister your age. If some weird old geezer buying porn tried talking her into going to his house, I'd hope that someone would try and help her,_" he explained, collecting the card and tearing it into pieces before tossing it into the bin under the counter.

"_Thank you. I'm Iris,_" she introduced, bowing. She thought she got it right, she heard that if you bowed too low it could be considered mocking, and not enough could be considered an insult.

"_Hayato, nice to meet you,_" he responded in kind with a friendly smile and a somewhat shallower bow. After that, they said their goodbyes and Iris carried on back home. By the time she got there, the movers were already helping Adam carry things up the stairs to their little flat.

Excitedly, she told him about the tournament that was supposed to be happening and asked if she could attend. With all of their things, the place was almost uncomfortably cluttered, they were going to have to sell a few things here and there, nothing too big. It also meant that keeping the place tidy was a must.

"We'll see," Adam allowed as they ate their lunch, "So... have you decided?" he asked curiously.

Iris hummed as she sipped her melon soda, "Yeah. I think I'll go for Seishun Academy."

_**000**_

**And ta'dah! Finished.**

**We're still trying to decide whether or not to make this a non-magic AU, or a magic-AU where she managed to miss Hogwarts, or perhaps she ended up being a squib, who knows. I can't decide. So I'mma just keep writing, see where it takes me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Iris Potter loved Tennis. She loved it with a ferocious passion. Enough of a passion for her to turn a so called tennis team of nothing but fangirls into something worthy of attending the Japanese Nationals. It was time for Seigaku's female tennis team to take centre court!**

_**000**_

Last time:

_Excitedly, she told him about the tournament that was supposed to be happening and asked if she could attend. With all of their things, the place was almost uncomfortably cluttered, they were going to have to sell a few things here and there, nothing too big. It also meant that keeping the place tidy was a must._

"_We'll see," Adam allowed as they ate their lunch, "So... have you decided?" he asked curiously._

_Iris hummed as she sipped her melon soda, "Yeah. I think I'll go for Seishun Academy."_

_**000**_

"What a disappointment," Iris muttered as she walked away from the tennis courts. Was this really the level of Japanese tennis players? She had been expecting better. Hoping for better. The Gakino Gazaka Junior Tennis Tournament was nothing to write home about. Even the sixteen year olds were laughably poor. Still, at least the sportsmanship was exemplary from what she'd seen, and the audience were genuinely interested in tennis.

She had wanted to take part, but apparently it was boys' only. She had been a week too late to register for the girls' portion of the tournament. What a drag. Still, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled a little, Adam had run into a few people who'd known him from his old professional days and they had yet to stop chattering about serves and moves, and who was doing what. It was nice to see him socialise with people who spoke his language (tennis that is). She did worry that he got lonely what with spending most of his time training her.

"_HEY YOU PUNKS!_" one of the Tournament officials roared, rushing past her towards one of the practice courts, there seemed to be quite a few people there. "_YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO PLAY WITHOUT PERMISSION!_"

Almost immediately the sixteen year olds scrambled off, swearing and yelping like cats who'd had their tails trodden on.

Her phone rang then, "Hello?" she asked, turning away as the other people, an older woman, a girl with beautifully long braids, and a boy with a cap passed by. "I'm by the practice courts. I figured you'd want to stay and socialise a bit more... No I'm okay. A little disappointed. No one here seems to be very good. No... No. I'll see you when you get home, have fun..." she laughed as she followed the group of three to the exit, "No, you have fun. Really. Drink, be merry. I'll be fine. Hayate-san got some new Shounen Jump in, I think I'll be well occupied for the evening. Yeah... Love you too. Bye."

Stowing her phone away, she picked herself up into a jog, by-passing the group of three on her way to the station.

_**000**_

"Dad! Dad, wake up! Breakfast is ready!" Iris called, knocking on her father's bedroom door. Distantly she could hear the sound of him slowly arising to the world of the living and rolled her eyes. If he wanted his food to get cold, that wasn't her problem, she decided as she sat down at the living room table and steadily made her way through her bowl of blueberry and apple porridge. She'd decided to add half a teaspoon of cinnamon and two teaspoons of sugar while she cooked it and, oh it was delicious. She would have to make a note of this one in her cookbook.

A few minutes later, as she was finishing up the last of her food and watching the news as Adam shuffled out of his bedroom, dressed in a suit and with his sports bag over one shoulder – his work out clothes were probably inside. Wordlessly, she pushed the mug of tea she'd made up towards him and watched as humanity returned to her father's face. His suit was impeccable. Shame about his hair, she decided eyeing the messily stuck up strands.

Then he grinned at her, "Well, don't you look adorable in your new uniform," he observed with a laugh at the filthy look she shot him. They'd argued long and hard over the uniform, Iris even went so far as to call up the school's admin office and ask if she could wear the boys' uniform instead, only to be refused. That left her in this... travesty in her opinion. Adam hadn't stopped laughing at her since he'd bought it. The green skirt and short cardigan weren't so bad, but there was a big pink bow on it as well! Not to mention said skirt was... uncomfortably short. She had still gone with her standard operating system and worn bike shorts under it, whether or not she would get into trouble for it remained to be seen. But either way, she wasn't taking them off.

"Your lunch is in the fridge," she stated sharply in reply, making Adam snort in amusement at the clear subject change.

"Need a lift in today?" he asked making her give him a look.

"You sold the car, remember?" she asked flatly. Oh right, he'd forgotten that. Shipping the car all the way to Japan was a bit too expensive so he'd opted to just rely on public transport as Tokyo was supposed to be like New York in that respect – cards and traffic were likely to make you late. And at least the trains were famous for being on time. "Do you remember the way to your new school?" Iris continued as she sipped her tea, checking her watch quickly.

"Ahh-hahaha, no?"

She sighed, "Pass me your phone," she commanded, collecting the touch-phone and fiddling momentarily. "There, I brought up the map, instructions, and even the train timetables for you. Go and get a comb and some gel," she added firmly as she set the phone back on the table. Adam laughed and gave her a mocking salute as he got to his feet.

Five minutes later, with his hair tamed, bag and brief-case in hand, the pair of them were leaving the flat, Iris was bouncing a tennis ball up and down on her racket for hand-eye coordination practice. "I'm not paying for a replacement ball if you lose that one," Adam pointed out as they went down the stairs.

"I wouldn't ask you to," his daughter countered with a smirk flipping her racket over and bouncing the ball with the rim, "And do you really expect me to lose it?" she added, perhaps a touch arrogantly but when it came to tennis it was one of the things she allowed herself to be arrogant _in_. She had _earned_ her four years of Junior Championship Titles back in England with blood, sweat, and often tears as she worked herself to such a level of exhaustion it was all she could do.

Adam had tried to get her into other areas, just so she would have a hobby besides tennis. Dance, music, art, cooking... the only thing she seemed to approach with any manner of enthusiasm was self-defence, but that was definitely not a hobby, and more a necessity. She refused to ever be a victim, and her councillor said it would be good for her, so he didn't try to discourage her when she got a little... intense about it. Still, she liked cooking and did it pretty well. Music wasn't something she was very good at but she did enjoy playing what tunes she did know on whatever piano she could find. As for art and dance... she could draw stick figures. And for someone who was usually so graceful in her tennis and self-defence lessons, she was more likely to trip over herself while dancing than actually get a step right.

"Right, well, this is where we split," Adam announced as they reached the train station. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Have a great first day at school, mind your manners, try to make friends, and if you stay out late, send me a text, okay?" he told her with a smile.

Iris was a good girl, he knew he could trust her. The red head nodded, "Will do. Do you remember the way?" she asked and nodded happily when he waggled his phone at her, the map she'd uploaded for him clear as day. "Okay, I'll see you when you get home. Do you want curry or grilled chicken for dinner tonight?" she asked.

"Let's go with curry. See you later," he called making his way to the stairs as his platform was on the otherside.

The twelve year old nodded thoughtfully, putting her racket and ball away and rummaging for her notebook, scribbling a list of ingredients she needed to get on her way home that night.

She'd just finished when the train toward Seishun pulled in, boarding, she was surprised to see the number of people and made certain to huddle herself as far into a corner as possible so as not to step on any toes, hugging her bag to her chest so the handle of her racket didn't do anyone harm.

"_Ahh, that's the Seigaku uniform! And you've got a tennis racket!_" an obnoxious male voice practically shouted in her ear. Iris winced and looked to her left where an excitable twelve year old boy with a wide mouth and a unibrow was grinning at her, he too had a tennis racket in his school bag. "_My name is Horio Satoshi! I'm attending Seigaku too, I've even got two years of tennis experience so I'm a shoe-in for the tennis club, what about you? What's your name? What country are you from? I can see that Seigaku's standards are so high that even foreigners want to get in!_" the boy continued to talk, not giving her a chance to answer him. Great. A talkative braggart, just the kind of person she wanted to be crushed against in a long train journey. Not.

"_It's nice to meet you, Horio-san,_" she interrupted calmly with a slight incline of her head making him blush and smile a little in embarrassment, "_I've been playing tennis for five years. My name is Potter Iris, and I'm from England. I take it Seigaku has a good tennis team?_" she asked gently, it felt weird to know that this boy was the same age as her but... god if she didn't feel more mature at least.

"_Ah! Yeah! The Seigaku regulars are amazing! Tezuka-senpai especially! They say he's at national level already and he's only fifteen!_" the boy gushed loudly, gaining a few disapproving and mildly amused looks from the other passengers. Apparently loudness was frowned upon, but a star-struck Kohai extolling the virtues of his Senpai was adorable in a puppy-ish kind of way. He then looked twice at her and offered a slightly apologetic smile, "_The girls team... isn't quite as amazing,_" he explained.

Iris nodded, "_That's a shame. Are they just poor players or are they just not trained well?_" she asked, if it was the latter she could do something about it. Adam had been coaching for years and not just at her old school, he had been paid quite a lot of pretty pennies by rich slobs who wanted a professional to teach their precious little brat how to hit a ball over a net and she'd often come with him and been forced to take part in the coaching as well. So when it came to coaching, she was a fair hand. If it was just a genuine lack of talent, she didn't think she could do much to help, not in the beginning. Aside from recruitment and even tougher training.

Horio shrugged, "_I hear they're very easy going. A lot more easy going than the boys club_," he admitted and Iris grinned in relief, so it really was a training issue. Well then. She would just have to work them hard, wouldn't she? "_Ahhhaha, you've got a very scary smile right now, Poteru-chan,_" he pointed out a little anxiously. That was the smile of the devil alright!

The red head's evil grin fell away into something much prettier and docile, "_Ahh, sorry about that, Horio-san. I'm just happy. If it's a lack of training holding the girls back then it's something I can rectify._"

Horio blinked, "_Really?_" he would have thought that a lack of training was fairly crippling.

But the pretty red head just nodded, "_My dad's a Coach. He often had me help out while he was at work because his injuries meant that he couldn't demonstrate properly. So I know what to do for the most part, and the other things I can ask the school coach about. Lack of training isn't a problem. Lack of talent is,_" she lectured firmly, "_Hard work can take you far, it can take you all the way to the top. But you need time for that. A lot of time to overcome that lack of talent. And if your drive to succeed wilts in any way, you may as well sell your racket because if you waver even for a second... that's it. You're done._"

Any response from the boy was cut off when the train pulled to a stop and the tide of humanity spilled out onto the train platform, dragging the both of them along with it. The two followed after the familiar Seigaku uniforms as they made their way to the school, a large sign outside greeting the new students and telling them that orientation was at 8:30am. Several large boards with lists of names in kanji and hiragana were set up on the inside of the courtyard with students crowding around them looking for friends, family, and themselves, lamenting over not getting into the same class, or celebrating.

"_Eh! There's a Gaijin name in 1A!_"

"_Seigaku has Gaijin students? Really?_"

"_He must be from America._"

Horio glanced at the girl he'd met on the train, but she didn't seem surprised by the somewhat curious and scornful reception her name had garnered. She seemed really nice and he hoped that no one gave her trouble, he didn't think they would, but she was a first year, and foreign. While he didn't see any problem on working off merit alone, there were a lot of people who would take her determination to be involved with the girls' tennis club as an insult because she was a _first year_ and a _foreigner_. Still, she was pretty down to earth, or at least she seemed so. And she very _clearly_ loved tennis.

"_Excuse me,_" the girl murmured as she slipped between the gossiping students easily, her remarkably small stature actually being a boon in this instance.

A few people did a double-take upon spotting her, she was clearly foreign, but she wasn't the boy they were expecting. Not to mention her very vivid hair colour. Plus, she was thin, and pretty. The common belief was that Gaijin were hugely tall, and fat, and had ugly pointy faces and sunken in eyes. Plus horrible skin and hygiene.

Iris ignored them as she spotted her name on the list for 1A, just as they were blithering about. She made a note of the room number and then scanned to see if she could find Horio's name. She spotted him in 1B and then made her way out of the crush of students.

"_You're in 1B, seat eleven,_" she told the unibrow'ed boy when she reached him

"_Eh? You looked for me too?_" he spluttered in shock.

Iris looked over her shoulder at him in mild confusion as they began to make their way to the field where orientation would be taking place, "_Well, we're friends, aren't we? Besides, I was already there and the crowd was pretty thick._" She shrugged and carried on, Horio trailing after her in mild shock. He knew that Gaijin were often considered more friendly than polite, but to have it be confirmed was a bit of a shock. There was nothing impolite about what she'd done, but he hadn't been expecting it all the same.

They'd only spoken the once on the train.

_**000**_

The day passed slowly. People seemed surprised that a foreigner could speak Japanese as well as her, and she found herself as something more of a classroom pet, or pariah depending on the individual, than a person. Of course most people were too polite to do anything but try to make her feel as welcome as possible, but there was that definite undertone of scorn, derision or patronisation.

Still, introductions and lessons happened. She was thankful to see that she wasn't far behind – if a little embarrassed because she was ahead of the learning curve back in England, to suddenly drop was a little distressing. Still. This just meant less time reading manga and more time studying. No big deal.

"_Sakuno-chan!_" one of the more boisterous girls called from Iris's left, rushing up to a mildly familiar girl with very long twin-braids. Iris sighed longingly. She'd always wanted long silky hair. But her hair had never grown further than her shoulders before becoming so coarse and full of split-ends. Plus, it would get in the way of tennis. "_Someone really cool is passing by, let's go see him together!_" the boisterous girl gushed to her friend who pretty much wilted in her seat. Clearly not as enthusiastic as the other girl.

Iris shook her head, they were _twelve_, they shouldn't be concerning themselves with boys just yet.

By the time the end of the class day rolled around, she couldn't wait to get onto the tennis courts. There were some very... irritating characters in her class and she was wholly unused to racism. King James' had a strict policy on race-bullying that meant immediate suspension. So to suddenly have it right there, in her face, directed _at_ her, and done so in such a way that... wow. She was quite used to facing hatred and ignorance, but she'd thought she wouldn't have to deal with such blatant attacks on herself after she left the Dursleys. Plus, this as... if she could describe it as anything, she would say that it had been elevated from simple mild bullying to something closer to an art-form of verbal barbs.

Should have known better, shouldn't you? She thought to herself as she made her way down the corridors, hopefully in the direction of the courts.

"_Um, excuse me, Senpai?_" she asked, coming to a stop next to a rather tall second year with dark hair, "_Could I bother you for some directions? I'm trying to find the girls' tennis courts, can you point me in the right direction?_" she asked politely.

The second year glanced down at the racket poking out of her bag and smirked. There was something... condescending about that expression. She tried not to let it get to her, but she was getting rather sick of it to be perfectly honest.

"_Sure. I'll even do one better and take you there myself!_" he declared with a self-important sniff, and a grin.

Iris nodded thankfully and fell into step behind him.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The second year kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye, clearly expecting her to start the conversation but she was quite happy with the silence – she just wanted to get to the courts.

"_So, how long've you been playing tennis?_" he finally asked, holding one of the doors open for her.

"_Fives years now, you?_" she asked, just to be polite and muttered a quick thanks as she ducked past him.

"_Not quite that long, only three. I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, Second Year, Tennis Club regular,_" he introduced as they stepped out into the sunlight at the back of the school. She could see a few tennis courts to the left and a large swimming pool – already full of girls in swimsuits.

"_Potter Iris, First Year, hopefully a member of the tennis club,_" she returned absent mindedly as she swivelled her head around to get a good look at everything.

"_Airisu? Quite a mouthful. What's it mean?_" the spiky haired guy asked as he escorted her to the tennis courts, waving a hand at a few of the girls who immediately crowded around the chainlink fence to squeal greetings at him, completely ignoring their practice. Iris frowned disapprovingly.

"_It's a flower name. I think they're called Ayame here._"

"_Cool. Well, Ayame-chan, this here is the office for the girls' team. You'll have to give your registration papers to Ryuuzaki-sensei, you'll probably recognise her from Maths class. Mayumi-chan is the current Tennis Club Captain for the girls, that's her right there,_" he described, pointing to a fairly tall dark haired girl with pretty black eyes and pale skin, she wore the blue and white Seigaku sports clothes rather well and it highlighted her gorgeous legs in a way that likely had a lot of her classmates watching her for no other reason. "_Now, I've gotta get going. I'm late for my own practice. Work hard, Ayame-chan!_" and then he ran off, giving another friendly wave to the squealing girls before he vanished back into the building.

Iris frowned at his retreating back, and her look darkened a tad when she noticed the girls were now stood around gossiping and squealing and arguing over which of them it was he had been waving at. She sighed and turned, heading into the office with a polite knock.

"_Ryuuzaki-sensei?_" she called, gently pushing the door open.

"_Come in, come in!_" the maths teacher exclaimed boisterously as Iris stepped into the cluttered office, she gave it a look over, it seemed cluttered, but in actuality, it was just a lot of things placed haphazardly in a very small space. "_Well, what can I do to help you?_" the woman asked, smiling at Iris from behind her desk.

Quickly, the girl in question presented her registration papers, "_I'd like to join the tennis club, Ryuuzaki-sensei._"

The woman quickly accepted the papers, but she didn't look at them. "_And how much experience have you had, miss?_" she asked and Iris had to refrain from frowning.

"_I've been playing for over five years now,_" she stated crisply and the teacher actually blinked in pleased surprise before actually turning her attention down to the registration papers in front of her. "_Oh Kami, Potter Iris? I heard you'd retired!_" she exclaimed, standing up with wide eyes.

Iris's smile became a little easier, at last, someone who _wasn't_ brushing her aside like an insect because she wasn't Japanese. "_No. I grew tired of the tennis scene in England, I heard the Japanese had very strong sportsmanship values and wanted to try my hand here,_" she explained enthusiastically.

"_Excellent, well, with your record I have absolutely no problem signing you up. But you'll have to take part in the ranking matches all the same. Perhaps this year we'll finally be able to put forward a girls' team for Nationals?_" Ryuuzaki-sensei pondered wistfully, her eyes glinting with hope. She then shook her head and grinned down at the twelve year old girl in front of her, how lucky was she that she got the two western prodigies in her School Team this year? She wondered how a match between Potter Iris and Echizen Ryoma would go before shaking her head again – as much as she loved her protégée, and had high expectations for his son, America just wasn't as intense when it came to tennis as England. Iris would wipe the floor with Ryoma if only because she just had more experience with different kinds of play-styles. Not to mention she didn't have his little arrogance problem. She would go at him with her full strength, right from the off, and if memory served... her play style was remarkably ruthless. Completely unlike that of her coach. "_How is Radcliff-san these days? Are his injuries still giving him grief?_" she asked as she led the young girl outside into the sun.

"_He's okay. He's coaching at Hyoutei and teaching Third Year Biology,_" she explained as they turned away from the courts and towards a smaller building to the side.

"_Hyoutei, hmm? Well, I shall have to warn the boys to be extra careful of them this year. Radcliff-san's training is brutal, but it gets results. This here is the changing rooms. Get dressed and we'll see how you measure up against the Third Years,_" Ryuuzaki-sensei declared ushering her inside.

The changing room was nice, about what you could expect from a changing room. Except for the fact that it was clean! And actually quite beautiful. The facilities at Seigaku were incredible. Back at King James, girls and boys had to get changed in the classroom together, stowing their clothing and school shoes under their chairs. At the Secondary school she briefly attended before having to pull out because of not only how violent it was but also because of how much it interfered with her tennis career had a changing room, but it was mouldy in places, and a really unpleasant place. Looking more like the shower room in a prison than a girls' changing room.

Iris changed quickly. Whipping her skirt and shorts off and replacing them with another pair of shorts, changing out her floral patterned bra and shirt for an actual sports bra and a polo-shirt, she bulled a headband out and slid it onto her head to keep her hair out of her eyes, pulled on a set of sweat bands on her wrists, took her earrings and her necklace off, and grabbed her racket before stepping outside.

Ryuuzaki-sensei must have said something rather sensational because she was getting Looks from the other tennis club members, in particular that Captain Mayumi. Who seemed to be the only one not glaring at her in complete hostility.

"_Alright, Iris, you'll be facing off against Asami-chan here,_" the coach declared, gesturing at another third year girl. She had her long dark hair loose, bangs held out from her eyes with cute Hello Kitty clips, her trainers were blindingly white, she wore _stockings_ instead of regular socks, her tennis skirt was equally clean and as blindingly white as both her shirt and her shoes. She had large hoop earrings and a gold locket around her neck. Her make-up was impeccable, and to say nothing about her perfectly manicured nails.

Iris hated her immediately.

And from the glare on her face, the feeling was perfectly mutual.

_**000**_

**And ta'dah! Second Chapter down!**

**Hope you guys are still enjoying. And yes, I'm making the girls' team seem a little worse than they have been seen in the canon when Sakuno is at practice. But hey, this is Shounen. I've got to exaggerate the bad so the main character seems just THAT much more awesome.**

If you guys are wanting to know what level Iris is at currently, in comparison to the other players... Here's a 1-10 graph. With 1 being Horio, and 10 being Yukimura when he's back after his surgery (15 being Ryoma after the final Self Actualisation).

**Tezuka I peg at 7. 9 after his injury is healed.**

**Fuji is a solid 7, but when he gets serious it can fluctuate between 10 and 11, depending on how pissed off/motivated he gets.**

**Each on their own, Eiji and Oishi I put at 6 for Eiji and 5 for Oishi. Together, they're 8.**

**Ryoma at the start of the series, I'm pegging at 6. At the end of the series, I'm settling him at 8.**

**Iris... she is currently at 8. She's been playing for five years. She's had a dedicated coach paying her individual attention. She's played a lot more opponents than Ryoma who primarily faced his dad – Tezuka points out that he needs to face other opponents to grow further because he's just a carbon copy of his dad. Iris also, subconsciously, is scared that if she isn't good enough at Tennis then Adam is just going to send her back to the Dursleys. She's not even consciously aware of that fear, but it drives her to huge extremes during training. Adam pushes her hard because he knows she can take it, and she never whines, not once.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Iris Potter loved Tennis. She loved it with a ferocious passion. Enough of a passion for her to turn a so called tennis team of nothing but fangirls into something worthy of attending the Japanese Nationals. It was time for Seigaku's female tennis team to take centre court!**

_**000**_

Last time: _"Alright, Iris, you'll be facing off against Asami-chan here," the coach declared, gesturing at another third year girl. She had her long dark hair loose, bangs held out from her eyes with cute Hello Kitty clips, her trainers were blindingly white, she wore stockings instead of regular socks, her tennis skirt was equally clean and as blindingly white as both her shirt and her shoes. She had large hoop earrings and a gold locket around her neck. Her make-up was impeccable, and to say nothing about her perfectly manicured nails._

_Iris hated her immediately._

_And from the glare on her face, the feeling was perfectly mutual._

_**000**_

**Note: **People are asking about pairings already, I shall be blunt. IRIS IS 12. There will be no pairings until significantly later. Bestfriends-bordering-romantic interests maybe, crushes, yes. Actual dating beyond holding hands and kissing on the cheek – **NO**.

On with the story.

_**000**_

Who did this little Gaijin bitch think she was?

Kitamori Asami scowled as she stepped up to the net, the brat approaching opposite. She studied the brat closely and found herself sneering irritably. Her hair was thick and wavy, pulled back into a horse tail. Sharp eyes pinpointed several split-ends and she couldn't stop herself from sneering in disgust. What kind of girl let her hair get into such poor state? Better yet, she thought again, eyes roaming over the first year's face, had she ever even _heard_ of make-up?

Her face was painfully bare, leaving every freckle and imperfection naked to the light of day. Her nails were ragged, cut short, but clean at least. She wore an overly baggy white polo-shirt, the collar unbuttoned and open, a white sweat-band kept her bangs out of her brown eyes. A pair of yellow sweat-bands were around her wrists. Her sneakers though, were filthy and old, they looked almost as if they were falling apart – disgusting!

She'd never seen that make of racket though. It was black with yellow jagged decoration.

"_Rough or smooth?_" the Gaijin asked, racket tapping the ground. Asami blinked in confusion. What? "_Rough or smooth?_" the girl repeated impatiently.

"_Smooth,_" the third year declared. After all, what was better than smooth skin, hands, and hair?

The Gaijin nodded and spun her racket. What was she doing now? It fell to the ground and she checked the bottom of the handle.

"_Rough. My serve,"_ she declared getting to her feet, racket in hand.

Asami's temper flared, "_Wait here, Gaijin! That's not how things are done here! I am your Senpai, so I serve first!_" she snarled furiously, her pride bolstered by the distant called of agreement from her club-mates, some of them even throwing insults at the younger girl who merely glanced at them in disgust.

"_Very well, if you feel that strongly about it,_" the Gaijin stated before walking away to stand at the end of the court, crouched ready.

The stylish fifteen year old sniffed and flounced to her side, she could see Ryuuzaki-sensei shaking her head in disappointment from her place in the referee's seat and felt herself bristle defensively. So what if the old hag disapproved? Asami wasn't _here_ to make _her_ look good! She was here to get Fuji-sama's attention, if he saw her across the courts she just knew he would ask her out. How could he not? She was the most beautiful girl here, she was into tennis, she was tall, athletic, intelligent, her last name ended with the Kanji for forest while his last name was the Kanji for Wisteria – they both had plant names! And their younger siblings attended the same schools. It was fate. What did she care if some old, unmarried hag of a sports coach disapproved of her behaviour? It was just a Gaijin. Who cared?

"_You going to serve, or daydream?_" the brat asked coldly from the other side of the court.

She flung the ball up and smacked it with all her strength, "_Take this, bitch!_" she screamed.

The girl didn't even move as the ball smacked into the ground at her feet. Asami grinned, what a loser!

"_Out!_" Ryuuzaki-sensei declared bluntly.

"_WHAT! THAT WAS CLEARLY IN!_" Asami roared, pointing at the Gaijin's court. This was discrimination!

"_When serving,_" the Gaijin began, stepping forward and tapping her racket down on the ground, "_You have to aim for this square from where you're standing. If you were on the other side of the court, you'd have to aim here. You always aim for the diagonal to where you're standing,_" she explained, tapping the other square next to her. "_When you aren't serving, the ball counts as an in as long as it bounces within these three squares. Anything outside them becomes my point. In doubles though, these two squares here also become open for scoring,_" she explained, tapping each of the court squares authoritatively.

Asami blushed furiously. She hadn't known that. No one had explained it to her. So all these years... Oh Kami! She'd been playing tennis wrong all these years in front of Fuji-sama! He must have thought she was a simpleton! An idiot!

Tears involuntarily gathered in her eyes.

"_AHH! YOU MADE ASAMI-SENPAI CRY!_"

"_HORRIBLE!_"

"_GET OFF THE COURT, BITCH! HOW DARE YOU?_" Several of the spectating girls screeched, pulling and rattling the chainlink fence.

"_THAT IS ENOUGH!_" Ryuuzaki-sensei roared, whipping around in her seat, "_I have never, and will never tolerate such vulgar and disgusting behaviour on the courts! Even the boys are better behaved, you should be ashamed of yourselves!_" She said nothing of the bone deep shock and horror she felt upon realising that one of her Regulars, one of the best players in the girls' team... didn't even know the rules or how to score properly! This was... Humiliating.

Asami dropped her racket and raced away from the court.

"_Hey wait! What about... our match?_" Iris trailed off, watching as the other club members immediately clustered around the sobbing young woman and ushered her into the changing rooms, chattering about fixing her make-up and how it didn't matter if she didn't know the rules.

"_Who cares about tennis anyway?_" one of them demanded in an effort to cheer their friend up.

Iris flinched as if slapped, her racket lowering as she stared after them in a mixture of horror and anger.

There was a moment of silence after they'd left as Ryuuzaki-sensei climbed down from her perch in the ref's seat.

"_Is it still too late to withdraw my membership to this club?_" the red head asked darkly, temper rising into something ugly and dark. Very few things upset her anymore, insulting either tennis and Adam were the very few things that could put her in a dark mood. Even the polite racism she'd been faced with since coming to Japan had done little more than garner a double-take, blink, and shrug.

Ryuuzaki sighed and clapped a hand on the young girl's back, "_Given how you're currently my best player. Definitely,_" she confirmed before turning her around. "_Since you're all dressed up, how about playing a match against your coach? I could do with the practice,_" she suggested steering the girl towards the net before going to pick up Asami's abandoned racket. "_Rough or smooth?_" she asked setting her racket to spin.

"_Rough,_" Iris stated in a subdued tone.

"_Rough. Your serve, just remember, no going easy on this old lady! I'm plenty spry!_" she declared as the young girl got into position.

Then the switch flipped, and the subdued expression of someone who'd just been thoroughly disappointed became sharp and cold. Ryuuzaki Sumire shivered in anticipation as the girl tossed the ball.

_**000**_

Asami hiccuped miserably as her friends clustered around her with their make-up bags, daubing on concealer, fixing her eyeliner and mascara. She couldn't believe she'd been messing up so badly for so many years, right in front of Fuji-sama! No wonder he never even _looked_ at her during class. He must have thought she was an idiot. She sniffled, more tears streaming out of her eyes.

"_Oh, Asami-chan! Stop crying, you'll ruin your make-up even more!_" Suzume scolded sympathetically, gently patting away the tears with a strip of tissue. "_Who cares if you got the rules a little wrong? None of us knew that and it's never been a problem before now. Stop crying. What does that mouthy little Gaijin know? She probably plays some backwards western tennis!_" she continued scathingly as she re-affixed Asami's Hello Kitty pins.

"_There. Much better!_" Misaki declared as they all stood back and grinned happily, their friend back to her former splendour.

"_Hey... isn't this Her uniform?_" short-haired Izumi called from the other side of the changing rooms, pointing to a small neat pile of clothing.

There was a moment of silence before Suzume marched over and snatched them up, "_Let's see how she likes being humiliated,_" she declared sneeringly, and in front of them all, dumped the uniform into the toilet. "_Let's go. She can fish it out herself._"

Asami sniffled and nodded as she got to her feet, she loved her friends, they definitely looked out for her.

"_Wow! Lookit 'em go!_"

"_You can do it, sensei!_"

"_Don't let her win! Show her what the first years can do!_"

"_What is going on out there?_" Suzume huffed as they stepped out of the changing rooms. There was a small crowds of people gathering around the tennis court they'd abandoned earlier – even Momoshiro-senpai was there! Hastily Izumi and Misaki double checked their hair and clothes.

The sound of tennis balls being smacked around brought them to the wire-fence where...

"_Oh my god..._" Mayumi breathed.

"_Th-that's not so impressive!_" Suzume stuttered, ashen faced but with her arms folded stood firmly beside Asami who gaped at the back and forth rallying between their coach – who was sweating and panting as she darted up and down the court – and the little red haired Gaijin who seemed to flick the ball into that one sweet-spot where Sensei couldn't even see it before it shot past her, again and again.

"_Are you an idiot?_" a mouthy first year boy demanded, glaring at her from where he was half clinging to the chainlink. "_This is an ultra high-level match! I never knew Poteru-chan was this good! Her level of insight is huge! She's accurately sending the ball into every single one of Sensei's blind spots in ways that her own body physically cannot return!_" the boy exclaimed.

"_Yeah, it's a killer technique,_" Momoshiro declared with an admiring tone, not taking his eyes off the match as Ryuuzaki-sensei let off one of Kaidou's Snake Shots only to have it countered with what looked like a move belonging to Eiji if he were a little better at dancing. "_I've seen it before, but not at this level. Hyoutei's current tennis Captain Keigo Atobe uses something similar where he aims for players blind spots. It's a ruthless technique. But it looks like Sensei's trying to draw the match out. Wonder why? Still, Ayame-chan is __awesome__. I had no idea she was this good!_"

"_You know her, Momoshiro-senpai?_" the unibrowed blabber mouth asked in surprise.

"_Sure do. I was late for practice cause I was bringing her here. Oh! Oooooh! That's why! Heh, sensei you sly dog!_" he exclaimed laughing as, whatever it was, became clear to him.

Izumi, blushing furiously, interrupted, "_Ano, what's why, Momoshiro-sa-senpai?_" she asked, stumbling over her usual -sama honorific in favour of something that wouldn't have him giving her an odd look.

"_Ryuuzaki-sensei is trying to draw the match out because Ayame-chan's endurance isn't the best! Look! See how much she's sweating? Almost as much as Ryuuzaki-sensei who's a lot more used to this level of exercise!_" he explained excitedly.

"_Gross,_" Suzume muttered under her breath. Sweating was disgusting.

_**000**_

As much as Sumire wanted to say she was winning, she most definitely wasn't. Iris was as ruthless as the magazines depicted her. There was none of the typical trash-talking banter between them, there were no soft serves to gauge her ability or her techniques, it was immediate full throttle, full power, the ball was hitting the racket – and then it was behind her and a scuff revealing that it was a point for Iris.

She couldn't match the younger girl's technique – good grief what had Adam been teaching her?

But she could draw the match out, make her tired, make her make mistakes. It was just a waiting game, steadily chipping away at her endurance. Sumire was certain she had more endurance than the younger girl. No one in the tennis world was unaware of her poor start in life, or her mistreatment as a child. It wasn't too much of a leap of logic to understand that she constantly battled with weight and health problems. Always teetering between under-weight and healthy. The girl just couldn't put the weight on and keep it on, especially not with her very active life-style.

Endurance was the girl's Achilles heel. And it was one that Sumire was going to _shamelessly_ take advantage of.

"_This shot ends it, sensei,_" the girl intoned coldly.

Sumire's eyes widened, damnit! She had been careless! She was right up at the net and -

Iris's lob sailed gracefully over head, curving ever so gently that it landed, right in the corner of the court and bounced away.

"_Eight – six, Sensei. It's my win,_" the girl declared, a smile stretching across her sweaty features.

Sumire laughed breathlessly, "_So it would seem. Good grief, what __has__ Adam been teaching you?_"

The girl laughed boldly. "_Tennis of course!_"

_**000**_

"_You were really good!_" Horio gushed as they made their way home on the train, "_I mean like, amazingly good! National level good!_"

Iris laughed, in a much better mood after her match against Ryuuzaki-sensei, not even coming into the changing rooms to find her uniform floating in the toilet had killed the victorious post match afterglow that came with a difficult opponent. And Ryuuzaki-sensei was difficult. She may have been slowing down a bit due to her age, losing a bit of stamina, but she had miles and miles more experience than her to make up all the difference.

Horio continued to gush the whole way back from school, alternatively singing her praises, the praises of the male regulars, and bad-mouthing the girls who dumped her uniform in the toilet. Apparently even though she didn't say anything word got out. Her clothes were in a plastic bag at the bottom of her gym-bag. She would wash them tonight twice over and they would be fine for the next day.

Eventually her stop came up and she hopped off, making sure to bid her friend goodbye before heading towards one of the local supermarkets. She knew she got some odd looks for being a foreigner – more noticeable now because she wasn't in her uniform. She got everything she needed for dinner that night, paid and left to head home. Waving at Hayate-san as she passed by the convenience shop window, he gave her a responding wave before turning his attention to the same guy she met last time she was in there, Mr Porn Magazines and Creepy.

She ran home before he could spot her.

Once home, she rinsed her uniform out in the shower before wringing it semi-damp and then tossing it in the washing machine. Setting it on a hot-wash with tumble-dry, she then washed her hands and turned her music player on to get some tunes going in the painfully silent little flat. With the clever, atmospheric orchestral music from Two Steps from Hell filling the flat, she got started on dinner.

Not long later, Adam returned, sniffing hopefully at the air.

"Damn that smells good. How was your first day?" he asked as he toed his shoes off. He was dressed in his work-out clothes, same as her, the gel in his hair gone, likely as not from the shower he took before heading home.

"Mmm, so-so," she decided thoughtfully as she browned off the chicken. "I'm a little behind the learning curve here, so I'll have to study harder. My classmates seem nice, I made a friend on the train called Horio. He's a bit of a bragger, but he seems nice. Ryuuzaki-sensei is great, she's been asking after you too. Wants to know if you'd be open to joining her for drinks on Friday."

"Sure, as if I could refuse the invitation of the Lightning Dragon herself!" he exclaimed with a laugh.

"She had a title? Wow. No wonder she was so good," Iris mused as she checked the curry sauce, giving it a stir before returning to the chicken and turning the heat down. "Yeah. Classes are fine. I'm in 1A, up on the second floor. I've got Ryuuzaki-sensei for maths as well, so that was pretty fun. Somehow she tracks it all back to tennis so it's not difficult paying attention. Science isn't too bad, I'm a little annoyed that the first years don't get to do practical work. Only Second years and Third years get to do that."

"And the tennis club?" Adam asked knowingly, bending slightly so he could look at his surrogate daughter's face properly.

She stilled for a long moment, the kitchen filled with the sound of violins and cellos, spitting chicken and bubbling sauce. "Awful," she finally stated, returning to pushing the chicken around the pan with an almost angry focus. "Absolutely awful. They had the gall to put a third year who didn't even know how to serve properly in a player spot for the regulars! Her form was messed up, she had next to no muscle mass, she was rude, she didn't listen when I tried to help her – she... she threw my clothes in the toilet..." she trailed off voice cracking.

"Oh, Raspberry," Adam murmured, bundling her up in a tight hug. Iris huffed and returned it, face flushing furiously. He hadn't called her Raspberry in years, not since she'd stopped seeing her Councillor. He stroked her hair and sighed, "Give it time. Remember this is just your first day. I've trained you pretty hard over the years so it's a given that you'd be so much better. Don't let them get to you. They probably just feel a little humiliated because you're better than them."

"They don't care about tennis, Dad. I even heard them say it!" she exclaimed into his shoulder and Adam... really didn't know what to say.

_**000**_

"_The Regulars get back today!_" Horio exclaimed excitedly the moment Iris stepped onto the train that morning, she was a little subdued and reluctant to attend today, Adam had to promise that they would go to the street courts that evening before she would agree to walk with him to the station.

"_That must be exciting for you,_" the red head observed dryly. The twelve year old boy was practically bounding in place where he was standing.

"_Yeah! They've been at a play tour for the last two weeks so they weren't at school yesterday. Momoshiro-senpai was injured so he had to stay behind, but today! Today they get back! There's going to be ranking matches this weekend – I might even get to take part!_" Horio bragged, thumbing his nose proudly.

"_Well, good luck to you. Maybe I'll come and watch since the girls' team seems to be so poor,_" she said with a bitter smile as she leaned against the wall.

Horio's enthusiasm faded away to sympathy, "_I hear all the girls who're part of the regular team are just there in the hopes that they'll get noticed. The only semi-serious one there is Mayumi-senpai, but that's only because she knows that Tezuka-buchou won't pay her any mind unless she gives it her all,_" he explained with a grimace of disapproval. An expression mirrored by his friend who seemed just as disgusted with the idea of fangirls using her favourite sport to pick up guys as Horio was at not having any of his own.

He blinked then, looking down, "_That's a new sports bag, isn't it?_" he asked, spotting the large black and white shoulder bag at her feet. Big enough for her to fit her tennis racket in.

She nodded, "_Waterproof too,_" she added pointedly and Horio nodded in acknowledgement.

_**000**_

**And that's the third chapter done.**

**Tennis matches are hard to narrate. Don't worry though, I'll get better with them. Just give me time. Until then, the majority of the matches will likely be glossed over with only key-points detailed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Iris Potter loved Tennis. She loved it with a ferocious passion. Enough of a passion for her to turn a so called tennis team of nothing but fangirls into something worthy of attending the Japanese Nationals. It was time for Seigaku's female tennis team to take centre court!**

_**000**_

Last time: _Horio's enthusiasm faded away to sympathy, "I hear all the girls who're part of the regular team are just there in the hopes that they'll get noticed. The only semi-serious one there is Mayumi-senpai, but that's only because she knows that Tezuka-buchou won't pay her any mind unless she proves to be good," he explained with a grimace of disapproval. An expression mirrored by his friend who seemed just as disgusted with the idea of fangirls using her favourite sport to pick up guys as Horio was at not having any of his own._

_He blinked then, looking down, "That's a new sports bag, isn't it?" he asked, spotting the large black and white shoulder bag at her feet. Big enough for her to fit her tennis racket in._

_She nodded, "Waterproof too," she added pointedly and Horio nodded in acknowledgement._

_**000**_

**Note: All English will be written in italics from now on as Japanese will be the majority language.**

They were late.

Or perhaps they just had no intention of showing up.

Either way, it was just Iris and a girl from her class, the one with the lovely long braids, on the tennis courts. Not a single member of the female regulars in sight, they hadn't bothered to show up for club practice. So it was just the two of them, Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, Sakuno, who was actually interested in tennis for the sake of tennis itself. That more than anything had Iris like her immediately and spend the first twenty minutes teaching her to properly warm up, and why it was important. While she did so, she also explained the rules of the game, hopping on the various court squares as they jogged past them as she explained the specific details.

"Y-you're really good at teaching, Ayame-chan," Sakuno panted as they slowed to a walk. Iris laughed, blushing a little.

"My Dad used to play professionally before an injury did him in. He's been coaching ever since, but he can't do demonstrations anymore, so I help out when he's working," she explained picking up a pair of rackets. She was completely oblivious to the arrival of the female regulars as she went through the different grips and swings for Sakuno with enthusiasm, having her practice them fifty times to start as it was her first day.

"Ahh, my arms feel like they're going to drop off!" Sakuno cried, laughing as she hunched over, resting her racket on the ground. Iris grinned, tapping her own onto her shoulder.

"It gets easier. I felt the same way starting out. C'mere. The ache you're feeling is your tendons and ligaments being stretched and flexed in ways they're not used to. You've got to be careful when practising or you could end up with Tennis Elbow, and ruin any chances at a professional career," she explained taking Sakuno's arm and massaging her inner forearm with strong, sure movements.

"You want to go professional?" Sakuno asked curiously.

Iris nodded, "I kind of already am, but yes. I have every intention of making it to the Olympics." She gave the other first year a blinding smile, "I want to do my Dad proud."

_**000**_

"So that's the new club member? Suzume, you lied. She seems really nice."

"She really likes tennis, that's obvious."

Asami kept quiet as the rest of the team chattered, neither Natsuko or Hanako had been there yesterday and seen how horribly the girl had spoken to her, but with Suzume jumping to her defence every few seconds it was painting a very different picture about what happened. And neither of the other Second Years were best impressed.

"So, let me get this straight," Natsuko asked sceptically as she ran a hand through her long wavy gold coloured hair, "You pitch a fit over not getting the serve, so she lets you have it anyway, then you serve wrong, and when she explains your mistake... you all start insulting her and then _you_ go running off the court in tears. Have I got that right?" she asked coldly, folding her arms disapprovingly.

"And you, Suzume, then went and threw her school uniform in the toilet?" Hanako finished, mirroring her bestfriend, arms folded and scowl set in place.

"That's not how it was at all!" Asami burst out, her eyes prickling with tears once again.

"No, that was how it went exactly," Captain Mayumi stated bluntly from where she was lacing up her sneakers. "The new girl then had a practice match with Ryuuzaki-sensei and thrashed her. She's good. Very good. We..." Mayumi trailed off, but there was such an odd tone in her voice that no one dared talk until she'd finished speaking, "We... We might actually have a team good enough for Tournaments this year."

"ARGH! WHO CARES?!" Suzume screamed, stamping her foot furiously. "Why the hell are we even talking about this? That little Gaijin cunt doesn't belong in our club and – _Kyah!_" Natsuko's hand impacted on Suzume's cheek hard enough to throw the ranting girl onto the floor, and startling the entire changing room into silence.

"So I should leave as well then, huh, Suzu-chan? Since I'm a Gaijin too," the golden haired girl demanded with a very nasty purr to her voice that had all present blanching painfully. Suzume had forgotten that Natsuko wasn't fully Japanese. She had been born and raised in France until her biological father had need of an heir and sued for custody that her mother didn't have the money to fight. Natsuko ended up being flown to Japan and forced into a rigid life where her father tried to force her into the mould of the perfect young japanese heiress. So she rebelled, hard, and became the head of a local girl gang. A violent delinquent yankii by night, and a perfect young lady by day – it wouldn't be until she was a teenager that she learned her father planned on marrying her off to a business partner in order to facilitate a merger between their companies. She ran away and moved in with her Aunt not long later refusing point blank to return home. She had dissolved the girl gang and calmed down a lot now that she was living with her mild-mannered, slightly airheaded but kind-hearted aunt, but there were moments... when she just... snapped.

Suzume shuddered fearfully on the floor as Hanako stepped up and placed a hand on Natsuko's shoulder. Hanako had been her second in that girl-gang, loyal to a fault, frighteningly intelligent, and perpetually smiling a creepy cat's smile. She had shoulder length black hair in a french braid, dark blue eyes and freckles dotted her pretty face. She was shockingly tall and lithe, but with no breast or butt to speak of despite her staggeringly gorgeous legs. The two were as different as night and day with Natsuko's thick, long golden hair, arrogantly curved hourglass figure, clear tanned complexion, and large hazel brown eyes.

"Let's go meet the new girls, Natsu," Hanako suggested warmly, effortlessly cutting through Natsuko-san's temper like a knife through hot butter, as always.

"Yeah, why not. Girlie with the braids looks cute, like a baby duckling!" the blonde teenager guffawed boisterously as the pair of them left the changing rooms. Leaving Suzume to sniffle and Asami to drop down and wrap her arms around the other girl tightly.

Mayumi sighed as she rocked to her feet, casting a look around the room. This was her team.

The scariest girls' Double Team to ever be seen at Seigaku, Yamamoto Natsuko and Ayanaga Hanako.

The most obnoxious Doubles Team she had the misfortune of working with, Kitamori Asami and Ine Suzume.

Singles players, Hasegawa Hitomi, Kurokawa Misaki, Busujima Izumi, herself – Inoue Mayumi, and hopefully, the new girl, Potter Iris. Also known as Ayame.

"Get on the court. Start warming up. We're doing this right now, girls. Yesterday opened my eyes, and I didn't like what I saw. One of our regular players didn't know how to serve properly, and even more galling, the rest of the team declared they too didn't know. I witnessed a twelve year old girl school our tennis coach and _win_. We're older than her. We are her _senpai_, and we behaved shamefully yesterday," Mayumi declared powerfully, looking around her team.

Suzume glared at her from between Asami's arms. She had always been a difficult person to get along with. Thick curly blue-black hair, tanned skin and golden eyes, she wore oval glasses and had a killer rack, C-cups at least. She was fairly short, but an aggressive player with a powerful smash. Her temper though, would always get her into trouble, on or off the court. It was why their previous Captain had paired her with Asami, a generally much more sensitive girl who played with uncommon finesse – or rather, she would have had they continued to play under their previous coach. It was a shame that the Captain who came before was so horrible she didn't care for winning in the slightest, turning them into little more than a fanclub for the male regulars.

Izumi would be easy to motivate, the difficult part would be keeping her motivated. She was tall but rail thin, almost dangerously so, with short cropped black hair and green eyes, she had long arms and legs and a pixie-ish face. She was easy to laugh and easy to cry, but also easily led by others. Very much a follower. She didn't have a good will power but she was _fast_. And not to mention flexible. She could be clumsy sometimes though. She was still growing into her height so it wasn't uncommon for her to trip over her own feet – which were uncommonly big for a girl, and her most hated feature.

Hitomi was a fence sitter, she would make her own opinion on the matter but for now she would stay entirely out of it. If things got too bad though, she would get involved and bring the whole mess to the teachers' attention, which wouldn't end well for Suzume if she carried on with her behaviour. Not that Hitomi cared much. She got into tennis because of her crush on Inui Sadaharu whom she shared chemistry classes with, she eventually became interested in biology and the human body, admitting that her love of Inui-senpai was still great, but now she just loved the beauty of the human body even more. Hitomi was an odd one. A little on the overweight side, she was soft and squishy, a little odd in the way she spoke, but polite at all times, and so generally non-plussed by everything it was near enough impossible to startle her. She was a surprisingly affectionate being once she counted you amidst friends. Her strawberry blonde hair was kept in long twin-tails with her bangs scraped back out of light orange-red coloured eyes, and she had chubby apple cheeks.

Misaki would follow her lead, eventually, she wasn't as bad as Suzume, but she had her moments. It would take some time for her to warm up to the new girl because of the way they had started off, on her own she would be quite nice and reasonable, but when around Suzume... she became very much a Yes-Girl. Agreeing to everything the more vocal and dominant girl declared. Hopefully she would grow out of it, because despite her general air-headedness, Misaki was a very friendly girl who shouldn't have any problems getting a boyfriend. If it weren't for Suzume being a bully, likely as not she would have already nabbed the vaunted spot as Momoshiro's girlfriend. She had short page-boy cut auburn hair and large brown eyes, she was very pretty and very nice, but not too bright and pretty naïve when it came down to it.

"I'm not accepting that kind of behaviour anymore," Mayumi declared as she pulled her racket out. "Sango-Bucchou may have been willing to turn the Seigaku girls' team into a laughing stock just so she could fangirl after Tezuka-Bucchou, but I am not. Get changed and meet me outside," she declared coldly before marching out.

Izumi wavered for a moment before dashing out after the Captain, unwilling to be near Suzume when she had that look on her face. Hitomi linked her arm with Misaki, who looked as if she were about to approach the two on the ground to help, and forcefully pulled her out of the changing rooms.

_**000**_

"Hey! Hey you! Red!"

Both Iris and Sakuno looked up from where they were taking a short break, guzzling bottled water in the shade under a tree just outside the courts. A pair of Second years were making their way over, a tall dark haired girl with a mild expression of amusement, and a shorter blonde girl with some killer curves grinning broadly. Both of them were wearing the sports uniform for the girls, but neither was as blindingly white or clean as Asami's, in fact, Iris's eyes widened a little when she realised that the blonde girl was wearing _combat boots_ of all things.

"Hey, I'm Yamamoto Natsuko, and this is Ayanaga Hanako. We're regulars, Doubles One. I hear you're a killer player, can we have a match? Mayumi-Buchou told us how you thrashed Sensei!" the blonde girl, Natsuko, gushed enthusiastically.

The dark haired one smiled fondly, laying a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "Let our adorable kohai speak, Natsu-aneki," she scolded warmly.

"It's nice to meet you, Yamamoto-senpai, Ayanaga-senpai," the two girls chorused, bowing their heads politely from where they were sat. Natsuko waved it off, ordering them to use her first name while Hanako rolled her eyes in goodnatured amusement. "I'm Potter Iris, you can call me Ayame. First year. Hopefully a member of the regulars, we'll see when ranking rolls around. This is Ryuuzaki Sakuno. First year, beginner. But she's got promise," Iris declared, smiling at the suddenly blushing twelve year old who tried to hide behind her bottled water.

"Aww! Lookit her! She's so cute! I told you she'd be adorable!" Natsuko exclaimed to Hanako, pointing at the spluttering and embarrassed Sakuno.

"So you did," Hanako demurred in amusement.

Iris chuckled a little at the odd double act in front of her, she guessed they were either dating or bestfriends, sometimes it was hard to tell. She climbed to her feet and picked up her racket, "Have you warmed up?" she asked, causing the two Second years to exchange glances.

"Does it matter?" Natsuko asked, she didn't sound dismissive or scornful, just curious.

Iris nodded, "If you don't warm up, you could pull a muscle or injure yourself," she explained, "Plus, it helps you to practice." She undid her ponytail and retied it, "I haven't warmed up properly yet, I'll join you."

"Room for a few more in there?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

Iris blinked, turning and spotting the rest of the tennis team minus the girl she faced yesterday and the mouthy one who said '_Who cares about tennis_'. It was the Captain, Mayumi, who spoke. She was smiling and a little nervous. "I'm sorry about Suzume and Asami's behaviour. May we join you?" she asked hopefully.

Iris grinned, "Sure!" she exclaimed happily. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she was fearing?

_**000**_

It wasn't as bad as she was fearing.

"Oh my god! You do this every day? I think my arms are going to drop off!"

"Oh, ew, ew, ew, I'm plastered with sweat! This is so not okay!"

"Kyah! Ow! Owie, ow, ow! I just broke a nail! It really hurts!"

_It was worse._

Iris was stunned as the regulars couldn't even keep up with a quarter of her warm-up routine. She would have expected this level of fatigue in a group of beginners, not in a team of regular players! What was more, she could even see the tall skinny one with the short hair, Izumi, tottering back to the changing rooms with every intention of going home. Auburn haired Misaki following suit.

Even the friendly second years Natsuko and Hanako were laid out on the ground panting hard.

Disappointment churned in her gut, gritting her teeth, Iris turned away from the sorry sight and continued with her warm up, resolutely telling herself that they were just taking a break and were going to get up and carry on once they'd gotten their second wind.

An hour later, she was alone swallowing back tears of disappointment as she went through her practice drills with mechanical precision. Alone.

_**000**_

The next day, she greeted Sakuno-chan as usual when she arrived. She was in a better mood after Horio-kun's promise to ask his senpai if she could join them for practice if things with the girls continued to be so abysmal. At least she might be able to spend time with people actually interested in tennis and driven to make something of themselves in the Sport. Because, as she looked around and didn't see hide nor hair of her teammates, she was becoming increasingly certain that the Seigaku female team would not be making any tournament appearances.

Or showing up to practice at all, it seemed.

Huffing in annoyance, she went through her usual warm up and led Sakuno-chan through the beginner drills, the two of them giggling as Iris told her some of the people she'd taught over the years and how terrible they were.

"Iris! IRIS!" the two girls looked up, startled, as a boy came sprinting around the corner.

"Horio-kun, what's the matter?" the red haired first year asked, immediately jogging over to her self-important friend.

"Y-yu-you _gotta_ see this!" he exclaimed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the girls' courts. "One of the first years from our club, he's amazing! Like, really, really good! You _have_ see this!" he exclaimed excitedly continuing to pull her away and towards the male courts.

"H-Horio-kun!" Iris yelped as she was forced to stagger into a run so she wouldn't fall flat on her face, "I-I was in the middle of – stop pulling, would you? - I was in the middle of teaching Sakuno-chan!" she complained as the bossy first year shouldered his clubmates out of the way and took her straight up to the chainlink fencing.

"Just watch, would you?" the unibrowed boy ordered.

Iris huffed, scowling before doing as her friend asked her to and watching the match. She stiffened and stood up straight when her eyes landed on the first year boy that Horio-kun had doubtlessly been talking about. She knew him. Well, knew _of_ him. It was hard not to have seen or heard of him in magazines when he was pretty much her American Counterpart on the Junior Tennis scene. But...

"Why is Echizen-san playing with that retired racket?" she asked, glancing over at Horio.

He blinked, "You know him?" he asked.

"Of him," she corrected, still keeping half her attention on the match and half on Horio.

"That second year, Arai-senpai, he's hidden Echizen's rackets and challenged him to a match. He says he'll return them if he wins," one of the other first years explained as the odd sound of the ball hitting the shitty racket gut reverberated around them, making Iris wince in disgust.

"Echizen'll win. That's a no brainer," she declared flatly, watching with sharp brown eyes as the American raised Tennis champion finally got the handle of his racket's limits. What happened next was almost beautiful to everyone watching. With his right foot as a pivot, he used his whole body, twisting and returning the ball.

"Ahh! He returned it?!" the first years clustered around her exclaimed in shock. Iris snorted, she thought that was obvious. Though in all honesty she wouldn't have bothered using the gut and just returned with the frame of the racket – the gut would be less likely to snap and whip up into her eye that way. She refrained from shuddering. She had nightmares of that happening more than once when she witnessed it at a street court in Liverpool.

"Did you see that?! He was able to hit it back with that crappy racket! I guess it isn't that old!"

"Can't be! It's still making that weird impact sound – but that return was _really_ fast!"

Iris shook her head, that was no where near Echizen's proper speed. That return was absolutely, embarrassingly slow by his standards. And judging by the look on his face, he agreed with her assessment. He didn't look very happy. Embarrassed if anything.

Arai-san gritted his teeth, "Don't get so cocky just because you were able to make it once!" he snarled, throwing a serve.

Iris sighed and turned to leave.

"H-hey! Wait, where are you going?" Horio squawked.

"This match is over. Echizen has a handle on that racket now. Your Senpai is mince-meat," she declared bluntly, nodding back towards the court as the summary slaughter took place between the first year and the second year. "This is just boring now," she stated with a shrug.

"Ayame-chan!" The red head grunted in surprise as an arm was roughly slung over her shoulder, "What are you doing here?" Momoshiro asked playfully as he messed up that prim ponytail of hers with relish.

She ducked and shoved him away, "Horio-kun dragged me over to see Echizen's match," she explained, scowling at him as she was forced to retie her hair.

He whistled in surprise, "You know our boy?" he asked.

She shook her head, "I know _of_ him. The Young Samurai is a pretty well known face on the Western Tennis scene. America and England often times have similar publishing houses when it comes to tennis magazines so there are a lot of crossover sections and announcements from both countries," she explained to the curious second year and Horio-kun's friends.

"Is he that good?" the shortest of the three asked timidly, scratching at his bowl cut hair, "Ah, I'm Kachiro, pleasure to meet you, Miss," he introduced with a quick bow.

"Ah, I'm Katsuko, nice to meet you," the tallest greeted, bowing as well.

"Potter Iris, you can call me Ayame if it's easier for you. Nice to meet you two as well," she said and returned their bows before glancing back to the court where one of the regulars, a friendly looking third year with black hair and an undercut hair-style started barking at people to run laps. "As for Echizen, yes, he is that good. Four time Junior American champion. He's recognised as the best in the country's under sixteens division," she explained.

"What about you?" Momoshiro asked, grinning slyly, "You didn't seem all that impressed earlier when he made that serve," he pointed out and had to grin a little wider in amusement when a faint flush of embarrassment crawled across the first year's cheeks.

"She wouldn't have been," stated a familiar voice from behind them. The group turned as one as the subject of the conversation himself joined in, amber eyes fixed upon the only girl. "_Miss Potter,_" he greeted in English.

"_Shouldn't you be running laps, Mister Echizen?_" she asked uncomfortably.

Ryoma smirked in amusement, "_So it would seem,_" he agreed lazily. "_I never expected to see you here in Japan. Congratulations on winning the last British Championship._"

She nodded uncomfortably, "_Thank you. I would say the same but it was kind of obvious you were going to win with the level of players in that Tournament,_" she said with a mild frown.

A frown echoed by the American raised boy, "_Agreed. Still. I had heard you retired. At least that's what all the magazines were saying._"

She shook her head, "_I got... fed up... with the way Tennis was done in the U.K. Dad and I opted to move to Japan, here, at least, the sportsmanship is exemplary,_" she explained with a small smile. Ryoma grimaced a little and nodded. Given Miss Potter's history and her meteoric rise on the tennis scene, magazines and newspapers had been following her closely, the various incidents she had been forced to deal with as a direct knock-on of that were well documented. More than anyone, Ryoma could understand the need to move to a country where their names and faces were unknown and no one cared for anything beyond their abilities on the courts.

"Well aren't you two getting nice and cosy?" Momoshiro observed with a leering smirk. A smirk that abruptly left his face when Iris roughly drove an elbow into his stomach without looking back, he grunted and cradled his bruised midsection with a wheeze of surprise.

"ECHIZEN! MOMOSHIRO! TWENTY LAPS!" roared an unfamiliar male voice from the courts, causing the group to look over at the bespectacled brunet.

"OSSU!" the two shouted back in response, Momoshiro moving off immediately.

"_Stick around. I want a match later,_" Echizen told her before turning on heel and following after his senpai.

Iris sighed, "_Great. Just great,_" she muttered under her breath before turning and stalking off back to the girls' courts. "Sorry about that Sakuno-chan, where were we?"

_**000**_

**And finito. God Ryoma's hard to keep in character. **


End file.
